Impact Global Location: Guyana

REF impact found 7 Case Studies

Currently displayed text from case study:
Select sections from document for display

Summary of the impact

Marine wood borers cause huge economic losses by damaging maritime
structures. Research conducted by Cragg's team has driven the move from
broad-spectrum, environmentally-hazardous wood protection methods towards
environmentally-benign approaches tailored to target specific organisms.
Their novel testing methods have accelerated evaluation of protection
methods while reducing testing costs (impact 1). Their evaluations have
been used to inform guidelines for selection of timbers for waterside
construction issued by the UK Environment Agency (impact 2) and to market
less well-known timber species (impact 3). Their information on invasive
borers affects local and global decision making (impact 4).

Submitting Institution

University of Portsmouth

Unit of Assessment

Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Summary of the impact

The interdisciplinary study of Black and Latino visual cultures by
Professor Celeste-Marie Bernier and Dr Stephanie Lewthwaite has led to the
retrieval of lost and neglected art from the 19th and 20th
centuries and to the display of this artwork for the first time. The
research and recovery process has provided new information for curators
and archivists who have begun to change their practice to reflect this
expanded canon.

Research Subject Area(s)

Summary of the impact

DU researchers have developed new algorithms and statistical models with
which to make precise quantitative assessments of forest cover and forest
attributes over small or large areas using satellite remote-sensing data,
either alone or in combination with airborne or ground-based laser
scanning. This research underpins the use of remote sensing as a
cost-effective tool for aspects of forest resource management, planning,
and policy compliance in many countries. Users include government agencies
in the UK, Sweden, New Zealand and Guyana, and international forestry
consultancy companies based in Finland with regional branches in New
Zealand. DU researchers have also used these methods to help verify the
Guyana government's entitlement to $250m under a UN initiative for
avoidance of CO2 emissions.

Summary of the impact

Research by the University of Huddersfield's Centre for Applied Childhood
Studies (CACS) carried out between 2008-2009 has played a major role in
tackling the problem of child sex abuse in the Caribbean. A study we have
undertaken which UNICEF described as a "landmark" in the field has led to
government acknowledgement of the problem, growing public awareness of its
effects, new policies, legislative reform, innovative child protection
programmes and improvements in the capabilities of professionals and
agencies. The research is also helping to shape responses to child sexual
abuse in other parts of the world.

Submitting Institution

University of Huddersfield

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health ServicesStudies In Human Society: Criminology, Social Work

Summary of the impact

Work by Dr Robert Smith continues to be used by government agencies in Mozambique and South
Africa, has already guided the development of Protected Areas (PAs) with a combined area of
25,000 hectares, and has been used by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund to identify spatial
priorities for their US$6.5 million funding programme. The team's research has had an obvious,
direct and significant environmental impact in those regions. It has also had a broader global
impact, including shaping the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) revised
Key Biodiversity Area approach and developing software and training materials for conservation
practitioners working in 103 countries. Protected Areas are the most widely used international
approach for conserving biodiversity. Our research in Southern Africa is leading the development
of systems for designing PA networks that meet biodiversity targets and minimise negative impacts
on people in surrounding communities.

Summary of the impact

This case study concerns the development, adoption and dissemination of
innovative `community-owned'
approaches to the sustainable management of social-ecological systems
(SES) within the
Guiana Shield region of South America. Spanning the countries of Guyana,
Suriname, French
Guiana and areas of Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, this region is of
recognized global
significance for carbon storage, fresh water resources and biodiversity.
Its indigenous, Amerindian
communities have a potentially crucial role to play in sustainable
conservation policy and practice.
However, local economic and cultural changes, extractive industries, and
global dynamics such as
climate change are bringing profound challenges to these local communities
and their SES.
Research at Royal Holloway has responded to these challenges by involving
indigenous peoples in
both biodiversity science and sustainability policy. The work allows
indigenous communities to
identify, through participatory research methods, the most effective
practices they have for
surviving and thriving sustainably.

The impacts of the research are of four main types:

The use of research data and approaches in shaping local, national and
transnational policy
initiatives;

The production of `community-owned' solutions to the socio-ecological
challenges faced by
indigenous communities;

Intensive `capacity building' via training of local researchers, the
promotion of local `champions'
of successful best practices, and the support of autonomous action
research by communities;

Enhancing public understanding of conservation in the region,
especially via primary education.

Summary of the impact

NRI's research in Africa has been influential in shifting thinking,
policy and practice on customary
land tenure and promotion of land tenure security. In particular it has
promoted the recognition that
customary tenure systems can sometimes provide a high degree of tenure
security and do not
need to be replaced wholesale, and that a variety of alternative
approaches to conventional land
titling are available. This led international agencies to develop new
approaches and guidelines for
land policy and set the stage for a new generation of land tenure projects
and programme
interventions in Africa, to which NRI is also actively contributing.